The Mongolian Sandwich

Mongolia has two
neighbours, China
and Russia. Both
of these countries are
huge and have dominated
Mongolia for several
centuries, despite Mongolia
being a sovereign republic.
Mongolia is rich in natural resources
such as copper, coal, gold and other minerals, which are providing new paths for
success and prosperity. Its biggest market
is China, while to the north, Russia forms
an alternate route to other markets. However, many Mongolians believe that the
possession of natural resources could lead
to greater dependence rather than independence, as its commercial success may come
to rely solely on either neighboring country’s economic stability.

Sandwiched Between Two
Great Neighbours

Mongolian State Secretary Tsogtbaatar
Damdin announced that his country has a
good relationship with its giant neighbors.
Sandwiched between China and Russia,
Mongolia maintains peace like many other
countries, though it now finds itself looking
further outward. It might be said that this
nation wishes to make further friendships
with other parts of the world.

Mongolia’s Disenchantment
with China

Mongolians are neither motivated nor
ebullient about China or the Chinese. Even
at a governmental level, Mongolia does not
have basic human rights for Chinese workers in place. Some Chinese professionals
pretend they are Koreans when doing business in Mongolia, as this is a more welcome
ethnic group.

This seems to be a form of historical retribution. According to historical records, during the rule of ethnic-Manchu Qing dynasty,
China ruled Mongolia rather inhumanly.
One sixth of the population is Mongolian
along the area of China bordering Mongolia, and there is continuous conflict there.

When the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia,
China simply closed the border. This sort of
behavior has led many Mongolians to fear
for their future with China as a neighbor.
Mongolia is a sparsely-populated vast
and poor country, whereas the neighbouring countries are overly populated and economically booming. Eighty percent of the
exports of Mongolia are bought by China
and half of the imports are from China.
To fulfill the demands of China, hundreds of small mines have been developed
in Mongolia. Two big copper and gold mines
have practically transformed this country.

The production of copper and gold in the
mines at Oyu Tolgoi is expected to start in
2013 and at the same time, the coal production is expected to increase from 16 million
tonnes a year to 240 million tonnes in 2014.
Both these mines are in the province of
South Gobi bordering China, which appears
to be increasingly integrating into China.
All necessary supplies have to pass across
this border. To improve the marketing strategy and to have access to South Korea and
Japan, plans are being laid out to build railways, not only to China but also into Russia
and eastern Mongolia.

Mongolia’s relationship with Russia, on
the other hand, has improved in the recent
past. Russia has at least helped preserve
Mongolian independence. Yet the relationship is not a perfect one. On a logistical
note, Mongolia was importing diesel from
Russia until the latter nation was unable
to supply the required fuel amount. This
led to a shortage of domestic supply in the
summer.

For this and many other reasons, Mongolia needs to pursue a third neighbor policy
and cannot afford to remain sandwiched
between the two giants of China and Russia.
Mongolia is a strong Western ally. It contributed troops to America during the war
with Iraq and Afghanistan. Look for this nation to increasingly reach out to the world
in the near future, perhaps starting with
the West.